User:Graham1118/Island of California

Lead
This mapping error was not a one-off event. From the mid-1500s to the late 1700s, great controversy surrounded the geography of California. For instance, a Spanish map from 1548 depicts California as a peninsula, while a 1622 Dutch map depicts California as an island. A 1626 map depicts the land as a peninsula, while a 1630 map depicts it as an island. A French map from 1682 only shows the tip of the Baja Peninsula, declining to make a statement on California amidst the controversy, while a Chinese map from 1865 - 20 years after the California gold rush - depicts California as an island.

Article body
It is thought that fake maps of California spread due to copying, since it is known that cartographers of the time frequently made copies of other maps. The first original maps depicting California as an island originated in the 1500s.

At the bottom left corner of one British map is scribbled “California, sometimes supposed to be a part of the western continent, but since by a Spanish chart taken from Hollanders, it is found to be a goodly island”. This maps provides further evidence for the theft of Fray Antonio's map by pirates.